University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt Men’s Swimming & Diving Ranked No. 22 in CSCAA Poll
1/21/2021 12:09:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh men's swimming & diving team received a ranking of No. 22 in the latest CSCAA January poll.
The 22nd spot in the rankings is the highest mark since 2004. Pitt received 54 votes after not being ranked in the previous poll. For a full list of rankings, click here.
The Panthers are coming off a dominant performance at home against West Virginia in their season opener, winning the Backyard Brawl 193-107. The men improved their record to 22-5 all-time against the Mountaineers with the victory. Pitt saw multiple first-place finishes last meet, including two record breaking performances from junior Cooper Van der Laan and freshman Warren Briggs. Van Der Laan broke his own school record in the 100 breast, swimming a time of 52.41. Briggs, in the first collegiate meet of his career, broke a school and pool record in the 1000 free with a time of 9:08.74. The time was previously held by Eric Limkemann (9:09.30) and was the longest holding record in Pitt history dating back to 2002.
Freshmen Marcin Goraj and Javier Zorzano each made a statement in their first collegiate meets. Goraj took first in the 100 back (47.93) and 200 back (1:45.39) while Zorzano captured first-place in the 400 IM (3:56.27). Senior Blaise Vera continued his dominance in the Backyard Brawl, winning the 50 Free (19.80) and the 100 Free (43.67) for the third-straight year against West Virginia.
Sophomore Dylan Reed earned first in the men's 3-meter, scoring a total of 406.28 points. Freshman Jackson Salisbury, in the first dive of his career, placed third in the 3-meter (354.00). In the platform, the Panthers placed three in the top-five as freshman Nate Keller earned second (309.45), Salisbury third (284.63) and Reed fourth with a personal best mark of 283.73. Reed placed a team-best fourth in the 1-meter dive, scoring a total of 302.25 points. Reed earned an NCAA A & C cut for his dives in the 3-meter and 1-meter, respectively, while Salisbury received a C cut in the 3-meter and Keller a C cut in both the 1-meter and platform.
